Author Topic: My top selling images, only one from microstock (Read 4738 times)

MichaelJayFoto · « **on:** December 28, 2016, 13:00 »

To me, 2016 has seen a major change. Last year, four of my five best earners would have been microstock images. This year, only one microstock image made enough to make it into the top five:

http://www.michaeljayfoto.com/talking-numbers/my-best-selling-images-in-2016/

I'd be interested to hear from others who started to diversify their distribution channels and came to similar results.

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #1 on:** December 28, 2016, 17:57 »

funny enough your figures show that there is no right or wrong regarding micro or macro. your micro photo did better than your macro photos. and you never know how they would have performed were they swapped.

sharpshot · « **Reply #2 on:** December 28, 2016, 18:19 »

That was an interesting read. I still haven't heard back from my initial application to Stocksy and haven't bothered trying again. Alamy get all my non-microstock images. No huge sales with them this year, I did get a whopper last year. I'm still fairly satisfied with the microstock sites, if one falters, another one seems to pick up. Will carry on with Alamy and I will try and get it to some more higher priced sites next year but I still have to keep the microstock sites, apart from the ones like istock that have lost my portfolio.

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #3 on:** December 29, 2016, 07:19 »

Quote from: Microstockphoto on December 28, 2016, 17:57

funny enough your figures show that there is no right or wrong regarding micro or macro. your micro photo did better than your macro photos. and you never know how they would have performed were they swapped.

I wouldn't support that statement. I am rather convinced, the micro photo would not have sold on macrostock. I doubt there would be many people spending $100 or more on an image like that these days. That image is very exchangable with those of other contributors, there is plenty material on micro. The macro images are rather unique, each in their own way. They probably would have sold on microstock as well but I doubt that they would have generated 400-500 downloads like the push pins or the isolated grass.

At least that's what I make myself believe when I decide which images go where.

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #4 on:** December 29, 2016, 07:24 »

Quote from: sharpshot on December 28, 2016, 18:19

That was an interesting read. I still haven't heard back from my initial application to Stocksy and haven't bothered trying again.

Honestly, I doubt that a new application at Stocksy would be successful. Actually there haven't been many new members recently. Maybe next year.

But there is Offset, 500px, EyeEm, Alamy; all of them non-exclusive and Offset the only among them with curation, so you can easily distribute images across all of those. I am also seeing regular (though not big) sales on Twenty20, and with Foap, Markedshot, Snapwire etc. there are also a couple of "mobile" platforms (I put mobile in quotes because they have no problems accepting DSLR images).

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #5 on:** December 29, 2016, 11:47 »

Quote from: sharpshot on December 28, 2016, 18:19

That was an interesting read. I still haven't heard back from my initial application to Stocksy and haven't bothered trying again.

Applications do take a while to go through, since the editors will contact and research people they are interested in, but after a while, you should have heard either way. How long has it been?

lostintimeline · « **Reply #6 on:** December 29, 2016, 19:19 »

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on December 29, 2016, 07:24

Quote from: sharpshot on December 28, 2016, 18:19
That was an interesting read. I still haven't heard back from my initial application to Stocksy and haven't bothered trying again.

Honestly, I doubt that a new application at Stocksy would be successful. Actually there haven't been many new members recently. Maybe next year.

But there is Offset, 500px, EyeEm, Alamy; all of them non-exclusive and Offset the only among them with curation, so you can easily distribute images across all of those. I am also seeing regular (though not big) sales on Twenty20, and with Foap, Markedshot, Snapwire etc. there are also a couple of "mobile" platforms (I put mobile in quotes because they have no problems accepting DSLR images). hi one question do you make money with markedshot? i have a small portfolio there but i dont want to upload more pics there if the sales are not good